VASL Map Online Problem/Suggestion Form

[etopp]

If you remove the islands or change the land hexes to water on boards 3a and/or 6a, the LOS tool does not work

 

[DougRim]

If you remove the islands or change the land hexes to water on boards 3a and/or 6a, the LOS tool does not work

Correct. This is a feature not a bug.

Some terrain transformations support los checking. Others do not. It depends on how they are implemented. Vasl6.6.2 will make this clearer.

 

[von Marwitz]

LOS does not work either under the following circumstances:

• Mud is in effect (which changes the tone of Open Ground).
• DTO Colors are selected for standard ETO colored boards.

von Marwitz

 

[Rindis]

While setting up a scenario I used the board 9 special overlay "Remove building 9DD3". At that point, I got this notice in Vassal:

• [Out Of Date Custom Code] This module contains outdated custom code, which is not guaranteed to work with versions of VASSAL released after 6-Aug-2021.
• [Out Of Date Custom Code] Please check whether there is an updated version of this module. If not, please contact the maintainer of this module and request that it be fixed, or post a message on the Vassal forums and ask for help.

That's the same general deprecated warning that VASL was getting before the recent updates. Seems like the board handling is going to need a check for that.

 

[BigAl737]

While setting up a scenario I used the board 9 special overlay "Remove building 9DD3". At that point, I got this notice in Vassal:

• [Out Of Date Custom Code] This module contains outdated custom code, which is not guaranteed to work with versions of VASSAL released after 6-Aug-2021.
• [Out Of Date Custom Code] Please check whether there is an updated version of this module. If not, please contact the maintainer of this module and request that it be fixed, or post a message on the Vassal forums and ask for help.

That's the same general deprecated warning that VASL was getting before the recent updates. Seems like the board handling is going to need a check for that.

Thanks Rindis. Doug has been busy removing these and probably got this one. A new VASL beta will out soon so please report if you see this again.

 

[von Marwitz]

Hopefully not too late to implement to VASL v6.6.2:

The LOS Tool does not work if boards are cropped to Full hexes.

This is irritating because you will have to create VASL setups that differ from the scenario card. I.e. if for AP86 Milling About only hexrows B to P of board 7a are in play, for the LOS to work, you will have to make that hexrows A to Q cropping to half hexes and afterwards somehow mark A and Q being "offboard".

Of course, that works, but it ain't nice.

Edit:
LOS still does not work after doing that.

The reason probably is that 'Cactus Hedges' are in play and I have changed the VASL artwork to reflect this.
Apparently, this will also 'kill' the LOS tool.

While we are at it - the follwing also kills the LOS Tool:

• Mud
• Using DTO colors for ETO boards

These three given examples make me guess that other similar VASL terrain/artwork alterations will also break the LOS Tool. My guesses would be things like 'Light Woods', 'Vineyards', etc. But I have not checked these.

von Marwitz

 

[DougRim]

Hopefully not too late to implement to VASL v6.6.2:

The LOS Tool does not work if boards are cropped to Full hexes.

This is irritating because you will have to create VASL setups that differ from the scenario card. I.e. if for AP86 Milling About only hexrows B to P of board 7a are in play,
for the LOS to work, you will have to make that hexrows A to Q cropping to half hexes and afterwards somehow mark A and Q being "offboard".

Of course, that works, but it ain't nice.

Edit:
LOS still does not work after doing that.

The reason probably is that 'Cactus Hedges' are in play and I have changed the VASL artwork to reflect this.
Apparently, this will also 'kill' the LOS tool.

While we are at it - the follwing also kills the LOS Tool:

• Mud
• Using DTO colors for ETO boards

These three given examples make me guess that other similar VASL terrain/artwork alterations will also break the LOS Tool. My guesses would be things like 'Light Woods', 'Vineyards', etc. But I have not checked these.

von Marwitz

The LOS tool DOES work for board cropped to Full hexes. See image, created using 6.6.1/3.4.6. It may not work on every map configuration but it does appear to work on this one.

However, the Hedge to Cactus Hedge will kill the LOS engine. It is that change that caused your problem, not the Full hex crop.



It is generally not a good idea to assume that because one type of transformation kills the los engine, that others will too. Light Woods works. It is really case-by-case.

 

[Cpl Uhl]

Don't know if this wish has been brought up before, but would be nice if Banzai/Human Wave counters flipped to Hex Grain Limited and had a right click option for Lax. The first often flips back and forth over the course of a charge, while the latter just stays when its over. (if they're still alive...)

 

[von Marwitz]

The LOS tool DOES work for board cropped to Full hexes. See image, created using 6.6.1/3.4.6. It may not work on every map configuration but it does appear to work on this one.

However, the Hedge to Cactus Hedge will kill the LOS engine. It is that change that caused your problem, not the Full hex crop.

Hm, I thought I could swear that it was not the first time that I had an issue with LOS and boards cropped to Full hexes. And that it seemed to work after cropping to half hexes. But as I worked with quite a number of scenarios in the last couple of weeks, I couldn't tell in which one(s) it came up and if maybe other things could also have played a role (and I admit that I am currently too lazy to go through all of them testing this again...).

I will watch out for those instances in the future and report here.

In any case, we've found Cactus Hedges as one cause (and I think that at least 'Mud' and using 'DTO Colors for ETO boards' have been verified before.

That said, is there a list of known 'wrongdoers'?

von Marwitz

 

[zcrater]

Like von Marwitz, I had found the LOS tool did not work whenever I cropped to full hexes, to the point where I stopped trying. Perhaps whatever issue von Marwitz and I encountered was resolved and we didn't notice. Way to go team VASL!

Zeke

 

[Commissar Piotr]

I’ll take a look at these DASL boards. Thanks for letting me know.

Any news on this?
Should not be anything major, just color scheme that needs fixing.
The hills on board e needs to be the same color as the hills on board l.
Grain on boards e-h needs to all be the same color, preferably the color of board h.
Buildings on boards e, f, h should be stone buildings with the same color as on board l.
That is what needs to be done.

 

[bprobst]

More importantly, the transformations on (some of) the boards e-h need to be corrected so that they work ... because currently, they're very spotty.

 

[von Marwitz]

This idea came up in another thread. I am not using log-files much myself, so I am not sure if some of these are actually already implemented. Nevertheless, it sounded a good idea to propose:

A "rewind" button for log-files (Dunno if the "back" arrow works or for how long).
A function that allows to 'connect' several log-files of several sessions of a given scenario into one.

von Marwitz

 

[Pip Smith]

Another one regarding log files, a timed step through (next step automatically happens at X seconds) for those who would like to see the scenario just play out without stepping through each individual action. Thanks

 

[BigAl737]

Any news on this?
Should not be anything major, just color scheme that needs fixing.
The hills on board e needs to be the same color as the hills on board l.
Grain on boards e-h needs to all be the same color, preferably the color of board h.
Buildings on boards e, f, h should be stone buildings with the same color as on board l.
That is what needs to be done.

It looks like the boards were made with emphasis to retain the artwork of the printed boards and not to enable terrain transformations. I'm hesitant to modify the intent of the board creator. With the re-release of the deluxe boards by MMP, maybe it's time to offer a VASL standardized set of deluxe boards?

 

[Commissar Piotr]

It looks like the boards were made with emphasis to retain the artwork of the printed boards and not to enable terrain transformations. I'm hesitant to modify the intent of the board creator. With the re-release of the deluxe boards by MMP, maybe it's time to offer a VASL standardized set of deluxe boards?

That would indeed be very nice.

 

[ColinJ]

Hello VASL coders.

There is a LOS problem with BFP board M. The issue occurs when the LOS crosses the gully hex, G6, from hexes F5, F6, G5. At times the LOS should be blocked, but the LOS engine shows it as clear. A few other examples a clear LOS indicated, when it should be blocked: G5 -> G7, F5 -> K7, F6 -> I6, F6 -> M4.
I understand the LOS engine can be quirky at times, but I'm hoping this particular problem may be easy to fix.

Thank you to all of the VASL coders and artists for all of your efforts!
Colin

 

[jyoung]

It looks like the boards were made with emphasis to retain the artwork of the printed boards and not to enable terrain transformations. I'm hesitant to modify the intent of the board creator. With the re-release of the deluxe boards by MMP, maybe it's time to offer a VASL standardized set of deluxe boards?

This might seem like a very odd suggestion - I really like the large size of the Deluxe boards when playing ftf with cardboard (plenty of space on a table), but in VASL I find them more cumbersome than the regular sized boards due to limited computer screen size, yet VASL has become my primary mode of playing and I want to play the Deluxe scenarios. In the same way that there is an option to use the regular boards with Deluxe sized hexes, I'd be interested in an option for the Deluxe boards with regular sized hexes, if that were possible.

 

[DougRim]

This might seem like a very odd suggestion - I really like the large size of the Deluxe boards when playing ftf with cardboard (plenty of space on a table), but in VASL I find them more cumbersome than the regular sized boards due to limited computer screen size, yet VASL has become my primary mode of playing and I want to play the Deluxe scenarios. In the same way that there is an option to use the regular boards with Deluxe sized hexes, I'd be interested in an option for the Deluxe boards with regular sized hexes, if that were possible.

This option does not exist at present (beyond zooming in a deluxe board which would also zoom in the counters). And realistically, I don't see it becoming available in the foreseeable future.

 

[jyoung]

This option does not exist at present (beyond zooming in a deluxe board which would also zoom in the counters). And realistically, I don't see it becoming available in the foreseeable future.

No worries, thanks Doug.